Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
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Liverpool Forward Mohamed Salah in Contention to Play against Brentford on Saturday

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah. (AFP)

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah could play against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday after recovering from a hamstring injury, manager Jurgen Klopp said.

The Egypt international has been out for a month since sustaining the injury at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“Mo is back in full training, that brings him automatically in contention of course,” Klopp said Friday.

Salah's return to fitness is a boost to Liverpool after injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Klopp dismissed suggestions that setbacks for those players could be attributed to them returning too soon after injury.

Alexander-Arnold is out of next week's League Cup final against Chelsea because of a recurrence of a knee problem in last weekend’s win against Burnley.

Thiago was out for around nine months with a hip injury and suffered a muscle problem 10 minutes into his comeback against Arsenal earlier this month.

Szoboszlai missed most of January with a hamstring problem. He is out again after hurting his hamstring.

Klopp insisted “we never forced anyone back and never will do.

"But we work in a high-performance area and if you have the same injury you are fit after three days and (for) another guy (it can be) after four weeks," Klopp said.

"We have to bring the boys back as soon as possible but never sooner than they are ready from our point of view.”



Bagnaia Wins Japanese Grand Prix Sprint after Leader Acosta Crashes

Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia of Italy (R) leads his teammate Enea Bastianini of Italy (L) during Tissot Sprint of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi prefecture on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia of Italy (R) leads his teammate Enea Bastianini of Italy (L) during Tissot Sprint of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi prefecture on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Bagnaia Wins Japanese Grand Prix Sprint after Leader Acosta Crashes

Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia of Italy (R) leads his teammate Enea Bastianini of Italy (L) during Tissot Sprint of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi prefecture on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia of Italy (R) leads his teammate Enea Bastianini of Italy (L) during Tissot Sprint of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the Mobility Resort Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi prefecture on October 5, 2024. (AFP)

Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Japanese Grand Prix sprint on Saturday after leader Pedro Acosta crashed out with four laps to go, reducing his gap with championship leader Jorge Martin, who finished fourth, to 15 points.

Rookie Acosta, who took pole earlier in the day, had overtaken Bagnaia on the third lap to take the lead, but lost control near turn seven, losing the opportunity to win his first MotoGP sprint.

Ducati's Bagnaia, who moved to 357 points ahead of Sunday's race, fought off second-placed Enea Bastianini by 0.181 seconds amid occasional rains in Motegi to win his 16th sprint of the season.

"We had to sacrifice a bit of performance during the race to understand the conditions better... I'm very happy because with this condition it's not very easy to win," Bagnaia said in his post-sprint interview.

Pramac Racing's Martin, who started from the 11th position on the grid after crashing during the qualifying session, started well to take the fifth position in the first lap, facing pressure from Marc Marquez, who eventually overtook him.

Marquez momentarily took second place from Bastianini but the Ducati rider recovered to leave him third.

LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami crashed out of his home grand prix sprint after a collision with teammate Johann Zarco, while Red Bull KTM's Brad Binder, sixth in the championship, quit due to an issue with his bike.

"We´re investigating what happened to cause Brad Binder's sprint to come to a premature end," the team wrote on X. "For now, all we can do is apologize to Brad."